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Effect of Arsanilic Acid on Performance and Residual of Arsenic in Tissue of Japanese Laying Quail

College of Animal Science, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China

¹ Corresponding author: qds{at}mail.hzau.edu.cn

	ABSTRACT

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Three hundred seventy-five 63-d-old laying Japanese quail were randomly distributed into 3 experimental groups (125 birds per group) and fed the following diets for 40 d, with 30 d on the experimental diets, followed by a 10-d withdrawal period: 1) control; 2) 50 mg of 4-arsanilic acid/kg of feed; and 3) 100 mg of 4-arsanlic acid/kg of feed. Each treatment consisted of 5 replicates of 25 birds. During the first 30 d of the experiment, all eggs were recorded, collected, individually weighed daily, and feed consumption was determined every 10 d. Five quail from each replicate in the experiment were euthanized by cervical dislocation at 0, 30, 35, and 40 d. Tissue samples from the liver, kidney, heart, gizzard, and the muscle on the breast and leg were collected for determination of As residue. The feces and eggs at 0, 30, 35, and 40 d of the experiment were selected for determination of As. Results showed that dietary inclusion of 50 and 100 mg/kg of 4-arsanilic acid significantly improved feed utilization and egg production, but the concentration of As in the tissues and feces in groups fed 4-arsanilic acid was higher than in control group. The results of the present study demonstrate that the use of organic As compounds as feed additives in diet is a matter for argument.

Key Words: arsanilic acid • arsenic • residual • laying quail

	INTRODUCTION

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Tests for genotoxicity have indicated that As compounds inhibit DNA repair and induce chromosomal aberrations and sister chromatid exchanges (Li and Rossman, 1989; Schoen et al., 2004). Arsenic exposure has lead to many significant health concerns, including hyperkeratosis, jaundice, vascular diseases, and cancer of various organs and tissues, including the skin, liver, lung, and bladder (Chen and Wang, 1990; Borzsonyi et al., 1992). In October 2001, the US Environmental Protection Agency reduced the maximum contaminant level of the drinking water standard for As from 50 µg/L to 10 µg/L. Today, all public drinking water supplies in the United States are required to comply with the new standard (Kristina et al., 2004).

Arsenic could occur in the food of animal products as a result of the use of organic As such as 4-arsanilic acid (4-amino-phenylarsonic acid) and roxarsone (3-nitro-4-hydroxyphenylarsonic acid) as feed additives for the prevention of coccidiosis and to increase weight gain and feed efficiency (Chapman and Johnson, 2002). The soil and drinking water could also be contaminated with As, because soil receives the application of poultry litter (Jackson et al., 2003).

Therefore, there was a heated disputation on the use of organic As as a feed additive. Thus, the aim of the present work was to determine the effects of arsanilic acid and the residues of As on performance in tissue of Japanese laying quail.

	MATERIALS AND METHODS

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Experimental Design and Quail
Healthy 63-d-old laying Japanese quail (375) were obtained from Qing Ling Quail Breeding Company, Wuhan, China. Birds were placed in 3 batteries of 5 wood cages each (25 birds per cage) and allowed 7 d to adapt to the cages. During this period, they were fed a basal diet. After this period, quail were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 dietary treatment groups. Each treatment group consisted of 5 replicate cages, each cage (0.60 x 1.00 x 0.40 m) containing 25 birds. Feeding was for 40 d, with 30 d on the experimental diets, followed by a 10-d withdrawal period. The experimental diets for each treatment were as follows: 1) group A: control feed (basal diet) without addition of 4-arsanilic acid; 2) group B: 50 mg of 4-arsanilic acid (Prosynth, purity 98%, Riedel-de Haën AG Seelze, Hannover, Germany) per kilogram of feed; 3) group C: 100 mg of 4-arsanlic acid (Riedel-de Haën AG Seelze) per kilogram of feed. The quail were fed the basal diet after 30 d of the experiment. Feed and water were supplied ad libitum. The quail received a 18L:6D lighting program and were kept at 25 ± 3°C during the experiment.

During the first 30 d of the experiment, all eggs were recorded, collected, individually weighed daily, and feed consumption and feed use were determined every 10 d.

Twenty-five quail from each group (5 each replicate) at 0, 30, 35, and 40 d of the experiment were killed, respectively, by cervical dislocation, and the liver, kidney, heart, gizzard, and the muscle on the breast and leg were removed and lyophilized for determination of As. The feces and eggs at 0, 30, 35, and 40 d of experiment were selected, the eggs were lyophilized, and the feces were oven-dried for determination of As. Arsenic was determined in the samples by spectrophotometry with silver diethyldithio-carbamate in chloroform in the presence of ethanolamine at the wavelength of 520 nm by a calibration plot method (Chmilenko et al., 2001).

Diet Preparation
The basal diet was formulated according to the nutrient requirements of laying quail recommended by the NRC (1994). Arsenic was detected in the basal diet and the drinking water; its level was 0.37 mg/kg (DM) and 0.008 mg/L, respectively.

Statistical Analysis
Data from the study were subjected to ANOVA using the GLM procedure in the SAS software (SAS Institute, 1982). Variable means for treatments showing significant differences in the ANOVA were compared, and differences were indicated using Duncan’s new multiple range procedure (Duncan, 1955).

	RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

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Organic As compounds such as roxarsone are widely used in the starter and grower feeds of broilers for control of coccidiosis and improvement of growth (Rath et al., 1998; Chapman and Johnson, 2002; Chapman et al., 2004). But there are some opposite reports; Chen et al. (2000) found that dietary inclusion of 50 or 100 mg/kg of roxarsone did not significantly promote performance, and the inclusion of 300 mg/kg of roxarsone significantly depressed (P < 0.05) performance of laying Tsaiya ducks. In addition, Chiou et al (1997) found that inclusion of 156 mg/kg of roxarsone in the diet of laying hens depressed food intake and egg production.

Although the use of As compounds was banned in the diets of laying poultry in many countries of the world, the present study showed that 4arsenilic acid added in feed at 50 mg/kg or 100 mg/kg improved feed utilization and egg production of laying Japanese quail (Table 1).

The toxicity of As depends on its chemical form, the inorganic form being more toxic than the organic one (Tchounwou et al., 2002). Whether the elevated As levels in the tissue, which are normally used for food consumption, are the subject of concern depends on the bioavailability and the form of the As in the tissue (Feldmann et al., 2000). Nevertheless, in vitro experiments with many inorganic and organic arsenicals show that they are powerful clastogens in many cell types (Tchounwou et al., 2004). Because As⁺³ is more toxic than As⁺⁵, a main concern is the As form as As⁺³ or As⁺⁵ in the tissues, but the As form in the tissues is not clear and needs further study.

The As distribution in the tissue of laying Japanese quail was not uniform (Table 2). The concentration of As in the muscle and egg was relatively low and was not more than 0.64 mg/kg among the 3 groups. This result agrees with the report that food of animal origin has a relatively low As concentration, varying from <0.1 to 0.9 µg/g (Aloísia and Cadore, 2004). The content of As in the liver, gizzard, heart, and kidney was relatively high and was from 0.81 to 2.82 mg/kg when 4-arsanilic acid was used in diet for 30 d. Because most toxicants are metabolized in the liver, the highest values of As would be expected in the liver. However, it is remarkable that the levels of As in the gizzard, heart, and kidney were significantly (P < 0.05) higher than in liver at 30 d of the experiment in group B and group C, respectively. The mechanism is not clear and needs further investigations.

The level of As in the tissue of group B and group C was decreasing 5 and 10 d after withdrawal of 4-arsanilic acid from the diet, but the content of As in the liver, heart, gizzard, and kidney was still higher from group B and group C compared with group A (Table 2). This demonstrates that As can accumulate in tissues and persists in tissues up to 10 d after compounds have been withdrawn from the feed.

Because As is widely distributed in the soil, feedstuffs, and water, there was always some As in bird tissues. The As level in the basal diet and drinking water in the experiment was 0.37 mg/kg (DM) and 0.008 mg/L, respectively. Even if the quail did not eat the diet that contained arsanilic acid, the quail can get the As from the basal diet and the drinking water. There was still As existing in the tissues and feces of the quail in all groups at 0 d of the experiment (Table 2), which suggests that it is necessary to control the As level in feed ingredients, drinking water, and other environmental factors for the safety of the animal and animal products.

There is a general lack of information about the fate of organic arsenicals in animal litter when composted or applied to soils, but the results of one study indicated that the mineralization mechanisms of arsanilic acid exist, leading to the degradation of arsanilic acid to the more toxic inorganic species in soil (Woolson, 1975). This suggests that the continued land application of As-containing animal litter could be detrimental to soil and water quality in the long term.

More than 11.4 million MT of poultry litter were generated in 1996, and approximately 90% was land-applied in the United States (Jackson et al., 2003). In China, almost all animal litter was land-applied as manure. There often was As residue in feces because of an As compound added in the diet (Moore et al., 1998; Jackson et al., 1999). This has raised concerns over As contamination of soil and water; therefore, there is a debate on the usage of organic As compounds such as roxarsone and 4-arsanilic acid as feed additives. In the present study, As concentrations in feces were 39.8 and 92.3 mg/kg of DM in group B and group C after 30 d of experiment, respectively (Table 3). Accordingly, consideration of environmental ecological safety and food safety, whether the continuous use of organic As compounds in diet is appropriate, is a matter for argument. In China, the using of roxarsone and 4-arsanilic acid as feed additives for pigs and broilers had been forbidden in nonenvironmental pollution food production since 2001 (Ministry of Agriculture of the People’s Republic of China, 2001a,b), and the permissible limit for As (as a total amount) of 0.5 mg/kg in wet basis had been in force for nonenvironmental pollution quail eggs and nonenvironmental pollution poultry meat (General Administration of Quality Supervision, Insepction, and Quarantine of the People’s Republic of China, 2001; Ministry of Agriculture of the People’s Republic of China, 2004).

Received for publication September 12, 2005. Accepted for publication July 12, 2006.

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